Davis Cup: Pouille sovereign – France wins tenth title

France has won the Davis Cup for the tenth time. In the final against Belgium in Lille, Lucas Pouille secured the hosts in the final against Steve Darcis with a confident 6:3,6:1,6:0 to win 3:2 and the first victory in 16 years.

With their tenth triumph, the French were on a par with Britain. Only record winners USA (32) and Australia (28) have more victories to their name. Belgium, on the other hand, missed its first title in the history of the traditional team competition.

The world rankings-18. Pouille took command of the world’s number 76 with a break in the second game and converted his first match point after 1:36 hours. David Goffin had previously kept the guests in the game. The runner-up in the top match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was equalized by a 7:6 (7:5), 6:3,6:2 to 2:2.

On Saturday, Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert took the lead with their double victory over Ruben Bemelmans and Joris de Loore (6:1,3:6,7:6,6:4). On Friday, Goffin had won the match against Pouille as clearly as Tsonga had won against Darcis.

The French Davis Cup captain Yannick Noah thus remains immaculate as team boss – in his third final as team boss, he celebrated his third victory. Noah had created a little surprise by setting up Gasquet instead of double specialist Nicolas Mahut. In the match between Tsonga and Goffin, the well-known impulsive Noah had withdrawn towards the end, and the Belgian turned up too much from the middle of the second set.

For Goffin, however, the defeat of Darcis ended the second Davis Cup final with a disappointment: two years ago, the Belgians had lost to the team of Great Britain led by Andy Murray on home soil.